Recently, the development of a variety of energy substitution such as, a clean energy source and environment friendly energy are emerging to replace fossil fuels due to the shortage of fossil fuels, environmental contamination issues and etc. One of the solutions is to use solar energy. This type of solar energy use can be categorized into three types; one of the types converts solar energy to heat energy and uses it for heating or boiling water. The converted heat energy can also be used to operate a generator to generate electric energy. The second type is used to condense sunlight and induce it into fiber optics which is then used for lighting. The third type is to directly convert light energy of the sun to electric energy using solar cells.
In any case, in order to use solar energy, it is necessary to have a device to collect the solar energy. For an energy collection device, a solar panel, which will directly face the direct sunlight, is generally used. This type of solar panel has a structure of multiple solar cells laying on a flat surface structure or has conduits to circulate operating fluids and its efficiency depends on the elevation of the sun.
Additionally, to face the sun correctly, a program or device to track the sun is necessary. This is called a sunlight tracking system or tracking system. The method to track the sunlight can generally be categorized as a method of using a sensor or a method of using a program. First of all, the method of using a sensor has an advantage of having a simple structure but the scope of sensing the location of the sun is limited and when a certain amount of time has passed while the sun is blocked by clouds and the sun has passed the sensing range of the sensor, it is impossible to track the sun.
Accordingly, a method of using a tracking program has been developed. Even though it has the disadvantage of needing a compensatory step due to an accumulation of errors, it has the advantage of being able to track the sun regardless of weather conditions. This type of method is used to track the location of the sun by programming the sun's location by observing the sun's changing location due to the earth's spin and rotation around the sun in a tilted state.
On the other hand, the said tracking system can be categorized as a one-axis system or two-axis system depending on the number of rotational axes and is designed to gain maximum efficiency by adjusting the angle of the solar panel automatically or manually depending on the elevation of the sun based on measured or previously gathered data.
On the other hand, in terms of a power generation system using solar energy, a large number of solar panels are generally installed on a vast area of flat land and as it is impossible to install more than two panels of solar panels to overlap, a vast space of land is required. Because of this, the power transmission structure that delivers power generated from a generator or an actuator to each solar panel is complex and the power loss during the transmission is greater as well.
But, when multiple solar panels are installed, a shade can occur due to interference between the solar panels, and sunlight cannot be fully absorbed when the sun does not arise above a certain angle or due to weather conditions.
In addition, even if the power generation apparatus and its tracking system according to traditional technology is tracking the location of the sun according to the pre-determined programming, there is a problem of errors due to the installation location of solar panels which include said solar cells and particularly with the direction of the installation. In other words, there is an issue of a lower rate of sunlight absorption due to environmental problems such as the land where the solar power generation apparatus is installed and the difference between true north and magnetic north.